


The Report

by copperbadge



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Constructed Reality, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Or Is It?, institutionalization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-05-26
Updated: 2004-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-24 20:12:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/copperbadge/pseuds/copperbadge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione ends up in the worst possible place for a witch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Report

**Author's Note:**

> This fic contains discussion of mental illness and involuntary institutionalization, as well as major character death.

"Doctor, may I?"

"Of course. I hear you have a case to present."

"Discuss, really. I was hoping you had a minute."

"Do you mind if I eat?"

"Not at all. I have all the paperwork...it looks like a breakdown but I can't tell."

"Child of professional parents, highly driven, academically successful...they see these all the time down at the new University hospitals."

"Tragic burnout."

"Too much study too soon. Not enough time to explore life..."

"Says the psychiatrist with two doctorates."

"Yes well, it took me long enough to get them."

"As for the girl...hm. You're right. High-status boarding school for gifted children. She's pretty lucid about a lot of it. Won't give me names, of course. Think she's telling me the tru -- "

"Ah?"

"Sorry. Do you think she's telling me what happened in reality, or do you think that's part of the fantasy too?"

"She's well-spoken, well-read, isn't she?"

"Magnificently so. She's an exceptional conversationalist. Especially when it comes to history."

"Has she been diagnosed as schizophrenic?"

"Well..."

"Well?"

"She doesn't fit the typical pattern. Really, of anything I've come across. I'd even say she's lying but she's obviously not sociopathic, I can see quite a depth of emotion in her. She really believes these things. We've run all sorts of tests, that's why I'm here. It doesn't read like a psychotic break."

"They found her in the woods, didn't they?"

"Raving about a battle with an evil sorcerer."

"A battle that's coming?"

"No, one she's already had."

"Post-traumatic stress disorder, then. A rape? Abuse?"

"No physical evidence of it. When she talks about it, she's obviously quite depressed, but everything's very clear. Her story rarely changes. She names off ten or twelve people she says she saw killed."

"Including the sorcerer?"

"Oh yes, she says he died too. According to her, the others died trying to kill him."

"She won't give her name."

"No."

"Any other details?"

"She's mentioned her parents, says they're dentists."

"Reckon she's about eighteen?"

"Little older maybe. I'd say twenty."

"Beautiful girl."

"She's very..."

"Firm?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Keep working with her. Be a shame to keep a girl like this locked up."

"Well, she doesn't seem to want to go anywhere. I'd appreciate you looking in on a session."

"Absolutely. Let me know the next time you speak with her. Out of curiousity, did she give a name for the sorcerer?"

"She's named them all. Voldemort was the sorcerer."

"Vole-de-mort. Rat of death. How intriguing."

"She also calls him Tom Riddle sometimes."

"A riddle indeed."


End file.
